


Despair

by Ace Of Hearts (huntingmyths)



Series: Feral [2]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Angst, Light Bondage, Nero just wants to be good, Punishment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:54:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22118227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/huntingmyths/pseuds/Ace%20Of%20Hearts
Summary: Kyrie finds out about Nero and Nero gets punished for it even though he just wants to be a good boy.
Series: Feral [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1588990
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	Despair

Nero stared at the door curiously as he heard a soft sound coming from the other side. Master had told him to stay there while he had to go out into town. He thought he had heard a sound like that before a long time ago, but he didn’t know where it had been or why.

His head tilted to the side curiously, wondering where it was coming from. He wouldn’t leave without Master telling him to - he’d learned the hard way with his previous masters that disobeying was the last thing he wanted to do.

He shifted uncomfortably from where he knelt on a pillow with his wrists secured behind his back and a muzzle on his face. He had cried and trembled when Master had put on the restraints on him, silently trying to plead for him to not do it. Nero would be good, he wouldn’t leave the room when Master told him not to.

His legs were the only thing unrestrained - incase there was an emergency, Master had said - so that he could move even though he wouldn’t.

The soft sound stopped as there was a knock on the door and a soft voice asked, “Credo? Are you home?”

Nero tensed as the door opened to reveal a female with red hair and wearing a white dress. His breath caught in his throat before he scrambled away fearfully. This had to be the person Master had said wasn’t supposed to see him. He was going to be punished when Master returned, he knew he would.

“N-Nero?”

Nero whined fearfully behind the muzzle, trying to get away from her onto to fall onto the ground.

“Kyrie.”

Nero flinched at the sound of his Master’s voice. He knew that Master was angry with him, even though there was no anger in his voice. He had disobeyed Master’s orders and let the female see him.

“Credo, what’s going on?” the female asked. “Is this… why is he…?”

“I’ll explain things later,” Master said. “Right now, I-”

The female rushed past him towards Nero, who flinched back in fear. He felt a soft touch on his arm, causing him to tense as he waited to be hurt. Instead of harming him, she gently helped him up into a sitting position.

“Are you hurt?” she asked in concern.

Nero shook his head, keeping his gaze lowered. Maybe if he acted as unthreatening as possible, Master would take pity on him and not punish him - it hadn’t worked in the past, but so far this Master was nicer.

“Kyrie, I need you to-”

“Why are his arms behind his back and a muzzle over his face?” the female questioned. “Credo, is this… is this really Nero?”

Master frowned as he stepped towards them, Nero keening apologetically as he curled in on himself. Master wasn’t moving for Nero, though, and instead pulled the female onto her feet.

“Let’s discuss this in the other room.”

“No. I want to know now.”

Master watched her for a moment before glancing down at Nero. He crouched down and took the muzzle off before removing the restraints on his wrists. Nero watched Master in confusion as he motioned for Nero to kneel at his feet.

“He’s not the same as when you last knew him,” Master told the female as his hand moved through Nero’s hair.

Nero leaned into the touch, closing his eyes as he relaxed against it. Perhaps Master wasn’t mad at him after all. It was the female who had come to him, not the other way around. He had done what Master had asked and stayed on the pillow in the room.

He listened to them talk, but didn’t understand what was being said. It wasn’t his place to understand, though he jumped when the female’s voice raised suddenly. His eyes flew open and he trembled in fear, watching her.

“There is nothing we can do to change what has happened,” Master said. “For now, he is my responsibility.”

The female frowned as she crouched down in front of Nero. He frowned as he saw water on her face, wondering if she had been hurt when he wasn’t paying attention. He knew that humans leaked water from their eyes when they were hurt.

His fingers hesitantly moved towards her before freezing. He realized he wasn’t supposed to go near her, causing him to tense even more.

“Are you worried about me?” she asked, causing him to hesitantly nod. “You shouldn’t be, not when you went through so much worse.”

He tilted his head in confusion as she gently took his hand between her own, causing him to freeze. He hadn’t realized how small her hands were compared to him. In fact, she was so small compared to himself and Master.

“This one time,” Master said, getting his attention. “It’s okay.”

Nero nodded, taking the hand that wasn’t in the female’s and gently touching the water on her face in fascination. She gave him a soft smile and said, “They’re tears. I was crying because of what Credo was saying.”

Nero let out a small growl, causing her to freeze and Master’s fingers to grip his hair tightly in warning. He whined, rubbing against Master’s leg apologetically. He didn’t understand why, but he wanted to protect this female human even when he hadn’t been given an order to.

“Credo and I knew you,” the female told him as she continued to hold his hand in hers. “Before all… when you were a kid. Before the Order took you in.”

Nero blinked in confusion. He didn’t understand anything that she was saying.

“Can you talk?” she asked.

He looked up at Master, unsure of how to respond. He didn’t know what would get him in trouble and what he would be allowed to do.

When Master nodded, he looked back at the female and said, “Yesss.” Nero frowned when he saw something in her eyes he didn’t like. “Sssad?”

“I’m sorry,” the female whispered.

“Nero’sss fault?”

“No,” she quickly said, causing him to flinch. “Sorry, no. It’s not your fault, Nero. It could never be your fault.”

“Kyrie,” Master said, getting the female’s attention. “You are not to go near Nero unless I am in the same room. Is that understood?”

“But-”   


“It is for your own protection. We will discuss this more later.”

“Ky...ri...e?” Nero slowly repeated.

She smiled sadly at the demon, saying, “That’s right. My name’s Kyrie and that’s Credo.”

Nero looked up at Master before nuzzling his leg when he saw the blank look. He didn’t know if Master was angry or not, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

“Kyrie, why don’t you start on dinner?” Credo suggested.

“But-”

“I’ll be out there in a few moments.”

She nodded, pulling away from Nero and saying, “I missed you, Nero.”

As soon as she was gone and the door closed, Nero looked up at Master fearfully. He knew that Master was angry that Kyrie had seen him, but it wasn’t his fault. He didn’t know what words to say to tell him that, didn’t know what words would explain that.

“I told you not to let Kyrie know you were here,” Master stated.

“N-not leave.”

“But you let her see you. That was one of the first rules in regards to being here.” Nero whined, curling up fearfully as he waited to be hit. He heard Master sigh, but didn’t sense anything coming towards him. “Do you think you should be punished?”

Nero hesitated before nodding in agreement. He should have hid when he heard Kyrie’s voice instead of waiting for her to come into the room.

“Why?” Nero looked up fearfully, unsure of what he was being asked. “Why should you be punished?”

Nero made a distressed noise, unsure of how to answer the question. Would he be hurt even more if he didn’t answer? No one had ever expected him to answer when they asked him a question like this Master did.

Master watched him for a while before standing up and directing him to follow. They went into an old room that made Nero sneeze from all the dust gathered up. He was led to a small door that was about half his height, a lock on the door keeping it closed. Master took the lock off and opened the door.

Nero looked up questioningly even as he trembled in fear from the open door. He didn’t know why the door scared him, but he didn’t want to go in. He knew that Master would put him in and leave him there in the darkness.

“In,” Master ordered.

Nero shook his head, whimpering fearfully as he took a step back. He would do anything, but please don’t put him in the small black room. He didn’t want to go in the small black room.

“Nero.” He tensed at the sharpness of Master’s voice like he was even more displeased. “Come.”

Still trembling, Nero walked forward to Master, feeling a gently hand stroking his cheek. Why was Master being so nice when Nero disobeyed?

“It won’t be for long,” Master softly said. “But you disobeyed an order and you have to be punished for it. Do you understand?”

A soft keen came from Nero’s throat as he nodded, moving to his hands and knees to crawl into the space. He curled in on himself, his knees pressed to his chest as he whimpered fearfully.

He watched as Master crouched down to look at him before closing the door, leaving Nero in nothing but a small dark hole. As soon as he heard the click of the lock, he whined fearfully. He hadn’t meant to let Kyrie see him, it had been an accident.

He didn’t know how long he had been in there in the small room with nothing but darkness. He could smell very old blood in there and feel pieces of the floor that were chipped. Had something else been left in here before him? Did they use this for other demons?

When the lock clicked open, he remained where he was, trembling even as the light came through the doorway. Master crouched down, peering in though Nero kept his eyes lowered. He was a good demon, he wouldn’t disobey again. He was good.

“Come out,” Master softly said.

Nero scrambled to get out, his trembling becoming worse as he did so. He hoped that Master wasn’t mad at him anymore. He didn’t want to go back in the dark room ever again.

“It’s okay,” Master softly said, sitting on the ground in front of Nero. “You’re safe.”

“Nero good,” Nero whimpered, nuzzling the hand on his cheek. “Be good.”

Master ran his fingers through Nero’s hair, softly saying, “I know. You’re trying so hard to be good. I’m sorry I had to put you in that room.”

“N-no.”

Master sat there with him as Nero’s trembling slowly came to a stop. Once Nero was calmed down, they went back into Master’s bedroom to find a bowl with food in it. Nero tilted his head to the side in confusion. The other Masters never let him eat after a punishment so why was this Master?

“Eat,” Master ordered.

Nero nodded, quickly moving to start eating. He didn’t know how long it would be until Master took the food away and Nero couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten. Maybe it was the last demon he got rid of for his previous Master - his Masters would let him eat the demons he killed instead of feeding him human food.

“Slow down,” Master said. “I’m not going to take your food away.”

Nero tilted his head to the side in confusion. He didn’t understand what Master meant by that, but he did as he was told and ate just a little slower.

Once he finished, Master took the bowl from him and placed it on a table before motioning for Nero to follow him to a large pillow that was on the floor. Nero tilted his head in confusion, unsure of what it was or why it was there. It hadn’t been there when Nero had come into the room before, had it?

“This is where you will sleep,” Master stated. “Unless I deem otherwise.”

Nero nodded, curiously moving over to the pillow and touching it. It was soft, causing his eyes to widen fearfully. What if he tore it? What if he did something to break it and Master got angry at him? He didn’t want to go back into that room again.

“Nero.” He looked at Master with wide, fearful eyes. “Calm down, you’re not going to be punished again.”

“N-no?”

“No,” Master agreed. “Lay on the pillow. I still have work I have to finish.”

Nero moved to lay on the pillow, careful to not ruin it. It was so soft and made him so sleepy, making him blink sleepily at Master as the human walked out of the room. Did Master not want him around? Nero was a demon after all so it made sense that Master wouldn’t like him. Even if Nero was trying to be so good.

He closed his eyes, hoping that he could at least be good enough to never go back into that room again.


End file.
